SERVING NOTICE
Bears defense dominates high powered Carolina with eight sacks, two INT in NFC showdown

By: Gary Zahara

Look out NFL, the Chicago Bears are for real.

Facing the so called 'cream puffs' on their schedule the first nine games, the disrespected Bears were licking their chops at facing the Carolina Panthers, the NFCs' top ranked offense at 28 points a game. The Panthers came up 25 points short as Adewale Ogunleye's three sacks and Nathan Vasher's two interceptions led the NFL's number one defense to a smothering 13-3 victory over the NFC South leaders in front of 58,017 Sunday afternoon.

The Bears lead the NFC North by two and a half games over the Minnesota Vikings who play Monday night in Green Bay.

"We've waited for a long time to be in this situation, where we played a game in front of our home fans that meant a lot," head coach Lovie Smith said. "The fans were super today. They really helped us a lot and we definitely had a home-field advantage."

The defense had eight sacks, all from the front four, including Alex Brown's two, holding the Panthers to 238 total yards in winning their sixth in a row. Chicago has won six in a row for only the second time in fifteen years. Carolina's running game was non-existent, rushing 16 times for just 55 yards, while throwing the ball 39 times.

By giving up three points, the Bears defensive unit accomplished a feat not even their 1985 counterparts could. Holding their opponents without a touchdown for four straight home games. It has not happened since 1928.

Thomas Jones, back from his rib injury that sidelined him last week, rushed for 87 yards on 25 carries. Kyle Orton continued his offensive consistency with 136 yards passing on 15 of 26 attempts with a touchdown and an interception.

Vasher didn't have any record setting performances this Sunday, but his first interception gave the Bears(7-3) all the scoring they needed.

Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme was intercepted by Vasher at the Bears 46-yard line. He returned it 46 yards to the Carolina eight-yard line. Three plays later, Muhsin Muhammad(6-49) caught a quick 3-yard slant from Kyle Orton and the Bears had an early 7-0 lead with three minutes gone in the first.

"I'm playing as well as anybody," Vasher said. "Our defense is playing as good as, if not better, than anybody."

Two possessions later, Vasher intercepted Delhomme on the same exact play as the first and returned it down to the Panther 18-yard line. Robbie Gould connected on a 33-yard field goal to make it 10-0 Bears with 5:41 left in the opening quarter.

"Certainly they are good; there's no doubt," Delhomme said. "We put ourselves in a hole early. I had a couple picks early on, we went down 10-0. We just never got anything going."

Gould's second quarter 39-yard field goal with 7:52 left closed out the scoring for the Bears. The defense took it from there, relinquishing just a 38-yard field goal to John Kasay with 8:31 remaining in the final quarter.

The field goal was a result of Bears safety Chris Harris' diving pass deflection of a sure touchdown for Ricky Proehl.

"We almost shut them out," Smith said. "That's saying quite a bit."

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